NCR Anti-Slavery Campaign
Background The NCR Anti-Slavery Campaign, also known as the "War on Slavery" was a police action by the New California Republic to stamp out the slave trade in the Republic. While referred to as a "War on Slavery", the operations against the Slaver's Guild had few large-scale engagements, the exceptions being the capture of the raider and slaver base in "The Den" in 2246. Slavery had been banned in the NCR since the inception of the republic, and the entry of every major city in Southern California, leading to the banning of slavery throughout the region, had led to the practice going practically extinct in the region by 2230 as the market dried up. Northern California was not under NCR control, and as such, those with business in the NCR travelling from northern California often brought slaves with them. During the early period, NCR law was mostly enforced within constituent cities of the republic, with little enforcement outside city walls, to the point that even the capital of NCR City had a holding facility outside the city walls where slave owners could leave their slaves in while they underwent business in the city. Early Period The NCR's stance of slavers outside the walls of NCR constituent cities changed in 2241 when president Tandi ordered the NCR military to patrol the areas outside the cities for slaver caravans and attack slaver and other raider bases in an effort to assert NCR sovereignty in the area outside the city walls. Funding for the military operation was approved by the NCR Congress as the "Slavery Abolition Enforcement Act" of 2241. At this point, NCR Rangers began patrolling the roads in the NCR and stopping suspicious caravans. Persons identified with the tattoo marking them as members of the Slaver's guild were arrested or, if they resisted, eliminated. The NCR also placed out bounties on the heads of slaver bosses. One such bounty was placed on the head of Vortis, a member of the guild who operated the slave market and holding facility outside of NCR City. Vortis was killed in 2241, supposedly by the figure known as the "Chosen One". All captives in the holding facility were freed and the facility itself was demolished soon after. In 2245, the marketplace north of NCR City would be incorporated into the city proper, eventually becoming the industrial district after the railroad arrived in 2249. Securing the Caravan Routes Starting in 2241, NCR military forces began patrolling the roads that constituted the popular caravan route know as the "Big Circle". These patrols including both soldiers on foot or transported by draft animal, who took up short-range patrols of the roads within about 10 miles of NCR constituent cities, as well as longer-range patrols using pre-war vehicles, which typically traveled distance between cities. Before the entry of Redding into the NCR in 2244 and the annexation of Sacramento in 2245 however, the NCR only directly controlled a small part of the "Big Circle" caravan route. If they intended to stamp out slavery in the region, they needed to establish bases further north. Capture and Annexation of Sacramento After Redding voted to join the NCR in 2244, the NCR was given greater incentive to expand north to secure the caravan route through the Central Valley between the then-northernmost NCR-controlled city of Fresno and Redding. Further incentive to establish a presence in the north was provided by the threat of the Enclave. After the Enclave plot to release a modified strain of Forced Evolutionary Virus was revealed after the the "Chosen One" destroyed the Enclave Oil Rig off of Navarro, many in the NCR called for the destruction of the remaining Enclave presence at Navarro. In order to reach both Redding and Navarro, the city of Sacramento would first have to be cleared. Prior to being invaded by the NCR, the city of Sacramento had been hit by three nuclear weapons in 2077, one in the city center and two more at McClellan Air Force Base to the northeast and Mather Air Force Base to the southeast of town. By 2245, with the radiation from the bombs having long since declined to safe levels, the city was home to about 2,000 people, and had no real form of organized law enforcement, essentially being a lawless, violent city similar to New Reno and The Den, and a major base for both the Slaver's Guild and the raider gang known as The 80s. Most of the population of the city was split into two settlements, Riverview, located in a pre-war suburb to the south of the ruins of the city center, and Folsom, located to the northeast of the remains of McClellan Air Base, built in the remains of the pre-war Folsom State Prison. On March 23rd 2245, the NCR armed forces ordered units from around the Republic, including NCR City, Dayglow, and Los Angeles, totaling about 5000 personnel and 80 vehicles, including 20 recovered pre-war tanks and APCs, as well as 16 artillery pieces were ordered to meet at the city of Stockton, the northernmost point of NCR territory at the time. This was by far the largest force assembled thus far in the history of the NCR. The amount of time required to transport all of the forces, most of which were not mechanized meant that all forces did not arrive in Stockton until April 29th, over a month later. On April 31st, the vanguard of the NCR forces, the First Mechanized Brigade, which included all pre-war vehicles, and would later be expanded into the first Mechanized, launched an assault up the Westside Freeway to Riverview. The NCR forces started encountering resistance from the Slavers and the 80s at around 1000 hours, as the entered the area of dense suburban housing, however, the gangs were much less well-armed and in far fewer numbers than the NCR forces. The small number of pre-war tanks the NCR recovered proved valuable, destroying several technicals used by the 80s in attempts to attack and destroying positions occupied by the raiders. Within 5 minutes the raiders were pushed back, and a dock on the Sacramento River used by the slavers was captured, along with several operation pre-war boats, and 37 slaves were liberated. The raiders quickly were pushed back to the the Florin Street Exit on I-5, the location of main settlement of Riverview. As it was with the docks, when the NCR arrived at the exit at 1025 hours the slavers and raiders, armed mostly with weapons such as 10mm pistols, shotguns, and handmade submachine guns proved no match for the NCR armor and infantry. By 1100 hours, the area was secure, with over 80 raiders and slavers killed and about 100 fled, the remaining 150 or were taken prisoner. Few of the inhabitants not associated with the gangs put up any resistance, and 120 more slaves were liberated. The NCR lost only 6 soldiers KIA and 19 wounded. The NCR forces left over 400 men in Riverview, and placed a pre-war tank and several machine gun and snipers's nest on the overpass, securing the area against any attempts by the Slaver's Guild or The 80s to push them out. On May 1st, a force of about 2000 NCR personnel, including most of the armor and vehicles made maneuvered around the city to the south and east to attack Folsom, while over 1500 infantry were dispatched to various locations in the ruins of the city, tasked with hunting down and eliminating groups of raiders that escaped Riverview. The assault on Folsom took several hours to reach the Folsom, slowed by over 1000 non-mechanized infantry, arriving in the area of the pre-war prison at 1200 hours. The NCR column was occasionally harassed by groups raiders in pre-war vehicles, mostly of the 80s, however, these forces were quickly destroyed or forced to retreat by the NCR forces. Upon reaching the pre-war prison, the NCR forces surrounded the compound from the south and east, the pre-war tanks and artillery moving into position at the edge of the open area around the prison and began firing on the south wall of the prison, quickly destroying the guard towers occupied by raider and slaver guards. With the towers destroyed, at 1220 hours, NCR tank and artillery shells breached the south wall of the prison in three locations, allowing infantry storm storm in, supported by vehicle-mounted machine guns. Over 300 NCR infantry forced entry into the prison, overwhelming the raiders occupying the pre-war structure. Over 150 raiders and slavers were killed in close combat, along with 21 NCR troops, and over 200 additional raiders were taken prisoner. Many of the raiders would, ironically enough, later become inmates of the prison, which the NCR restored to its former use, with the inmates being used as prison labor to rebuild the walls and towers damaged in the NCR assault. In the north cell block, used as a holding area by the Slaver's Guild, over 300 slaves were liberated. Over 2000 NCR troops remained in Sacramento to clear any remaining pockets of raiders. In the coming months, NCR forces would drive the raiders out of Placerville, Roseville, and Auburn, effectively pushing the 80s into the Sierra Nevada. In 2253, having eliminated the threats of both the Slaver's Guild and the Enclave from Central and Northern California, NCR would advance into the Sierra Nevada, capturing the city of Truckee and the pass over the Sierra Nevada, driving the 80s out of California. Assault on the Den Compound In 2241, the Slaver's Guild leader, Metzger, is assassinated by an unknown individual rumored the the "Chosen One". After this incident, a slaver bodyguard named Aidan took up leadership of the surviving members of the gang. On May 11th, 2251, a force of 150 NCR infantry (including 30 Rangers), 200 NCR Marshals, as well as six armed and armored trucks descended on the east side of the Den and cordoned off the area, covering any escaped routes with trucks equipped with machine guns. The NCR military and law enforcement forces surrounded the area and ordered all persons in the area to come up with their hands up. About 130 person exited the are, mostly civilians, who were detained until it could be confirmed that they were not involved with the guild. About 40 armed individuals remained in the area, 40 of them in the Slaver's Guild. Fearing that the Slavers may attempt to use the slaves held in the holding facility on the north side of the guild base as hostages, an assault on the Slaver's Guild compound, commenced. A sniper team of four NCR Rangers was placed within sight of the Slaver's guild holding pens, while a seven man assault team was tasked with clearing the pens. The Slaver's Guild offices, located in the south building of the compound were to be targeted by a two five-man assault teams entering from the front and side entrance. Other assault teams were deployed to clear the other building in the district, including the club known as "The Hole", Mom's Diner, and a pre-war church used as a chem lab. The assault commenced at 1100 hours with the sniper team eliminating all slavers in the area of the holding pens. The assault teams advanced on the doors, taking light small arms fire from the some of the windows, though the shooters were quickly killed or suppressed. The team assaulting through the south door cleared the main offices, a workshop, and two side rooms, while the squad entering through the south door were tasked with clearing a break room and the bedroom of Aidan. Within three minutes of the assault commencing, the NCR forces had cleared the buildings. This easy victory was achieved thanks in large part to the fact that the NCR forces, particularly the Rangers, were far better armed and equipped than the slavers, many of whom carried only 10mm handguns, while the NCR troops were armed with assault rifles, SMGs, and shotguns. Eighteen members of the Slaver's Guild were killed in the raid, including Aidan,and the survivors, many of whom were wounded, were arrested. Only two NCR personnel were wounded in the raid. Six slaves were liberated from the holding pen, and over a ton of chems and equipment found in the chem lab in the old church were confiscated and destroyed. Operations in the North Category:Wars Category:Events